The Fallen
by UltraRocker28X
Summary: The future Primarch of Palaven, Maxibius Darius, remembers his time as a Captain in the army of the long remembered Reaper War.


**A/N: Hey, so I made this for a short story in my English class. Based in the _Battle for Earth_ in _Mass Effect_, with my own characters.**

**Hope you enjoy it. :)**

* * *

The room was quiet. Nothing but the distant humming of sky cars passing by the window. Primarch Darius new promotion was one he did not expect, nor was it the lifestyle he had been at all accustomed to. After all the death and destruction of the war, who would have known he was the next in line to be the leader of his people. Looking out through the window, Darius remembered his time on the front lines, his time as a captain in the Reaper war.

* * *

"Captain!" a human soldier cried, "Captain, we need reinforcements on the right flank!"

The captain thought to himself, and shared his decision with his troops "This position is lost! Tell your men to pull out, we'll regroup at outpost charlie!"

They returned to their base, out of breath and injured.

"DAMMIT!" Darius cried. "Inform High Command, tell them Big Ben is lost and that we've received heavy casualties!"

Holding his side and wincing with pain, the captain hobbled over to a nearby chair. Taking his Omni-tool out he applied Medi-gel to his injury; he grunted with pain. Relaxing again he took the time to look around the compound, towers of rubble, broken walls, collapsed ceilings, exploded vehicles and above all else piles upon piles of corpses, both of the enemy and civilians. There were none of his fellow soldiers though, they were either off world, in a hospital or vaporized by the reapers particle beam. This sight both angered and sickened Darius. However, one thing caught the eye of the captain, a plant, a simple potted human plant sitting there in the rubble untouched and unscathed. The war had destroyed everything from national wonders to small farm houses, but somehow through all odds this plant survived. It made him think that maybe this cause was not a fools errand. That maybe, much like this plant, they'll make it through the death and destruction and come out on top and survive.

"Captain!" a soldier saluted, "High Command has given us a new directive, we are to escort Alliance commander Shepard to the transport beam."

"The beam?! That's suicide, there's no way we'll make it there, or even out of there alive!" another soldier interjected from across the room.

Darius sprang from his chair, stomped his way to the soldier, grabbed his collar and said; "Listen, if High Command orders us to do something, even something as crazy as this, we follow that order and DO NOT question it!"

The young soldier fell back in line with what was left of his squad. "But sir, this IS suicide. No one in their right mind would attack the transport beam head on," yet another soldier interjected.

He stood in front of his men and thought about the right words to say. "Listen up men!" he yelled, "If the commander thinks that this is the best course of action, then it is. You've heard the stories, how he single-handedly took down the Geth on the Citadel and the collector home-world. That thanks to him Palaven has received enough support to repel the reapers. I know we Turians say we've the best military minds in the galaxy, but we don't, humanity does. If they can produce a man like commander Shepard then we should follow them to the end. We should fight until every last Turian soldier is either dead or dying."

He stared at the blank expressions on his soldiers faces, not knowing if what he said even helped. Finally, after what seemed like an eternity, a soldier from the back of the crowd shouted, "Hoorah!" This was then followed by another soldier, then another and another, until eventually every troop was repeating the same word.

Feeling proud of himself the captain looked to one of his lieutenants. "Argonis, where are the keys to the Mako?"

"Right here sir..." Argonis replied, tossing him the digital mobile drive that was the keys. "...but why do you need them?"

"I have a plan," he replied with a grin.

* * *

"Where are those Turians?!" a human marine cried to the commander, "They were supposed to be here by now! We need their heavy armor!"

"They'll get here! It'll be a hell of a short battle if they don't," the famous Commander Shepard responded, returning fire on the hoard of mechanical Husks.

The enemy forces slowly made their way towards the marines, foot by foot. Every few seconds losing one of their soldiers, the commander opened his Omni-tool and called for Darius.

"Captain Darius, where are you i'm losing men by the second!" he yelled.

The signal was scarce and all Shepard could hear was; "On our…the..arm...mind your..head."

The sounds of engines quickly got louder and then he swiftly ordered his men to take cover. With that a wave of 10 heavy tanks and hover-choppers flew over them, firing their mounted machine guns at the enemy, mowing them down. Then only seconds after, another wave came from the side and then two more from the other, each bringing more vehicles and infantry.

Darius popped his head from the roof of one of the vehicles yelling to Shepard, "We'll keep you covered commander, just get to that beam!" then returning into the tank.

The vehicles started to advance towards the beam, and Shepard followed right behind. The creatures they had just fought were nothing compared to what was ahead of them. Thousands of Husks, Banshees, Cannibals and Marauders all there to do one thing, to prevent them from completing their mission.

They charged ahead leading a small army behind them, each of them knowing they would die. What they did not expect was what happened next, a Reaper, Harbinger to be precise. He came barreling down from the sky crashing into the Earth like a meteor, causing the ground to shake, and their hearts skip a beat. Its particle beam charging up and launching only seconds after landing hit and destroyed half of their forces in one shot, including the captain's Mako.

* * *

"Those days are over," the Primarch thought to himself sitting quietly in his chair, pondering some more. Then he felt something cold and hard rub against his hand, he then looked down to see WR-X, his dog. It had lost most of its limbs in the war but with modern science was able to live a relatively normal life.

Darius stepped from his chair, crouching in front of the animal. He started to rub behind its ear with one hand, and along the body with another. He'll never forget those days, the panic, the fear, the death, all of his fallen comrades and the sacrifices of the dead. The Reaper war was the worst moment in all of galactic history, but it helped unify dozens of species across countless stars.

The only thing the Primarch of Palaven had to say was; "Good boy _Wrex._ Good boy."


End file.
